I was hoping for a premium moviegoing experience with the dine-in option at AMC Dine-In Esplanade…read more14, but unfortunately, there were quite a few misses. There were some positives, but overall, the experience fell short of what I expected from a dine-in theater.
I've been to other dine-in theaters where you have menus at your seat and can order throughout the movie. Here, it's more of a pre-order system. Want another alcoholic beverage during the movie? You'll need to physically go to the bar to order it. That brings me to another issue: the bar was seriously understaffed. There was a line of nine people waiting for drinks, and it took us over 30 minutes just to place our orders. Not exactly the premium experience I was hoping for!
The concession stand is now a kiosk where you place your order, and the food is delivered directly to your seat. I actually liked the delivery service, and the staff bringing our orders were very friendly.
I ordered the Fiesta Chipotle Burger, and the food was decent and still warm when it arrived. My only real complaint was that they were pretty conservative with the fries. Also, be aware that your food comes in to-go containers rather than on actual dishware.
The theater itself was clean, and the bathrooms were also well-maintained. Despite having 14 screens, the individual auditoriums were smaller than I expected.
The seating was another disappointment. The chairs are rockers rather than recliners, which wasn't what I had in mind for a premium experience. Even worse, the armrest on my chair was broken. My wife was about to put her beer in the cup holder when I caught her just in time. Otherwise, I would have been wearing that beer! Definitely check your seat before settling in.
This was probably the most frustrating part of the visit. The signage directing you to the theater and its parking is seriously lacking. There wasn't clear guidance on which parking garage to use. I believe you can park in several nearby garages, but we ended up in one of the business towers that wasn't particularly close to the theater.
To make matters worse, after the movie, access to the business tower was locked. We ended up walking up the garage ramp to get back to our car, despite several signs warning pedestrians not to walk on the ramps. Not an ideal situation. Also validated parking is only good for up to 4 hours. If you plan on staying after your movie for another cocktail or 2, be aware that you'll end up paying for parking.
Finding the theater within the business park wasn't much easier. There isn't enough signage directing you to the entrance, so I took a guess that the theater was in the center of the complex. Thankfully, I guessed correctly!
The entry staff were very helpful. We arrived before our friends and had everyone's tickets, and the staff explained that our friends could use screenshots of the tickets to get in. That made things easy.
AMC Dine-In Esplanade 14 has some good ideas, but the execution needs work. The friendly staff and food delivery service were highlights, but the broken seating, long bar wait, limited ordering options during the movie, and confusing parking and wayfinding made the experience less enjoyable than it should have been.
For a theater advertising a dine-in experience, I expected a little more comfort and convenience. It's not a terrible place to catch a movie, but I wouldn't consider it a premium experience in its current state.